Churches in the Boroughs of
Manhattan, Bronx and Richmond.
Churches which have been
dissolved are so indicated.
Churches which have merged with
others are to be found under the
names of the churches of which
they became a part.

MANHATTAN

Adams-Parkhurst Memorial
Church

The Adams memorial Church was a
child of the Madison Square
Church, which in 1856
established a mission center and
Sabbath School. This was first
located in a house on the north
side of 29th Street near Third
Avenue, and then in the public
school on 27th Street near Third
Avenue. Lots were secured on
Third Avenue north of 30th
Street, and a chapel erected
where the first service was held
in January 1858. The work
developed so rapidly, however,
that it was necessary to seek
larger quarters. This property
was disposed of, and a church
building erected at 207 East
30th Street, and dedicated March
28, 1875. It was known at this
time as the Memorial Chapel. On
January 21, 1886 Presbytery
organized the work as the Adams
Memorial Presbyterian Church in
honor of Dr. William Adams for
so long a time the pastor of the
Madison Square Church.

At this time the German
congregation, which had been
meeting in the same building,
effected its separate
organization as the Zion Church.
Later on an Armenian
congregation met here and then
transferred to the
Congregational Church.
Hospitality has been given to
other groups.

In 1944 there was consummated a
merger with the nearby Madison
Square Church House, affiliated
with the First Church, and the
name was changed to the
Adams-Parkhurst Memorial Church.
In 1946, the church building at
207 E. 30th Street was sold, and
he work combined at 432 Third
Avenue.

The Church House began in 1886,
when a group of laymen of the
Madison Square Church met with
Dr. Parkhurst and decided to
open a new mission center. This
has been located at 386 Third
Avenue, 480 Third Avenue and
since 1901 at 432 Third Avenue
at 30th Street. Evangelistic
work has been conducted in
several languages, and an
elaborate program of social
service developed. The support
of this work was assumed by the
First Church, at the merger with
the Madison Square Church. Lee
W. Beattie was Superintendent
1901-37 and Clarence E. Boyer
1937-48.

Mission work carried on by
members of the Fifth Avenue
Church at 125 (Listed also as
107) Seventh Avenue, south of
18th Street resulted in the
organization of the Alexander
Church in 1865. It was disbanded
in 1874. The Fifth Avenue Church
continued missionary work here
which in 1889 was incorporated
as the Chalmers Church (See
Village Church). The ministers:
Morse Rowell, 1865-68; David M.
Maclise, 1869-74.

American International Church
(Dissolved)

This is the name of the church
organization at Labor Temple,
242 E. 14th Street, which is
described in Chapter IV. The
Presbytery recognized this
church on February 15, 1915, and
the directors of Labor Temple
acted as ministers. It was
largely a fellowship of those
attracted by the general program
but there were also a number of
families who had belonged to the
old Fourteenth Street Church,
whose building had been bought
for Labor Temple. Several
foreign language groups were
associated with this church at
times, the largest being an
Italian congregation under Rev.
A.A. Mangiacapra, 1920-43. From
1937-39 this group met at 543 E.
11th Street.

With the change in the program
of Labor Temple whereby it
became more of a national center
and an educational institute, it
seemed wise to terminate the
separate existence of the
church, in 1945.

American Parish

The American Parish was the name
given to an interesting
experiment in the service by the
Church to a very large area
crowded with people of different
nationalities. On the upper East
Side of New York and in the
adjacent territory of the Bronx
there was one old English
speaking church, the East Harlem
Church, at 233 East 116th
Street. In the same building met
the First Magyar Church, and
also an Italian congregation. At
340 East 106th Street was the
Italian Church of the Ascension,
and at 253 East 153rd Street the
Italian Church of the Holy
Trinity. The Church Extension
Committee established the
American Parish Neighborhood
House at 324 Pleasant Avenue
near 117th Street (1919-1927)
For a time there was also a
Magyar Neighborhood House at 454
East 116th Street.

All these centers were federated
in 1911 with a Board of Pastors,
under the chairmanship of the
Director of the American Parish,
who at that time was Norman
Thomas. This Board gathered a
staff of visitors, club leaders
and volunteer workers, who
served in the different centers
and developed community programs
as well as the more traditional
forms of church and Sunday
School work. After some years,
however, it was found that the
very success of the American
Parish had so developed local
leadership among the members of
these churches that workers from
the outside were not as
necessary, and the curtailment
of budgets made it seem wise to
discontinue the American Parish
Neighborhood House in 1927. The
name American Parish still
continues, comprising the three
foreign language churches, but
without the central staff of
workers, the pastor of each
church being responsible for his
own program, with the
co-operation of the Church
Extension Committee.

Evangelistic services were held
in the "Little Italy" district
of East Harlem, beginning in
1906. Mr. Nardi, the lay
evangelist, gave great impetus
to this work. Several different
places were used, 338 East 106th
Street; 2050 First Avenue; and
in a tent; and finally in 1913 a
church was built by the Church
extension Committee at 340 East
106th Street, and from the very
beginning it was crowded with
Italians. The Church of the
Ascension was organized November
7, 1909.

Beck Memorial Church
'
On August 14, 1814 the village
of West Farms in what is now the
Bronx, with its three hundred
inhabitants and a flour mill as
its chief industry, sought in a
meeting in the public school the
organization of a Presbyterian
Church, which became the First
Presbyterian Church in the
Village of West Farms. There
were present Dr. Gardiner
Spring, pastor of the Brick
Church, and Mr. Robert Lenox as
advisers. The enterprise was
successful from the first, and
in 1815 a church building was
dedicated on what is now 180th
Street opposite the present
church building. The first
pastor, Rev. Isaac Lewis,
combined the oversight of this
church with his pastoral work at
New Rochelle.

In spite of much evidence that
the work was having a great
blessing, the financial burdens
were heavy. There was a threat
of foreclosure of the mortgage
on the building. At this time
two women of the church came to
the rescue. The story can best
be told in the words of Rev.
George Nixon, who was pastor of
the church from 1858-1875. He
says: "I would be derelict in
grateful remembrance of their
zeal, consecration, self denial
and deathless hope, Did I fail
to record the names of Miss
Nancy Leggett, the village
school teacher and Miss Ann
McGregor, her assistant. These
ladies walked from West Farms
village to Broome street to
consult with an elder of Spring
Street Church as to ways and
means of protecting the mortgage
on the church property. Acting
upon this elder's advice who
started the subscription with a
goodly sum, these women called
upon Presbyterians through the
city and made their appeal with
the result that they secured the
needed amount. Then they walked
back tired as they were,
refusing to spend even the sum
required for stage hire, saying
it was the Lord's money and not
a penny could be diverted."

Organized by the Presbytery of
new York, this church was from
1829-35 enrolled in the
Presbytery of Bedford, and from
1870-87 in the Presbytery of
Westchester.

In 1905 there was dedicated a
splendid new edifice on the
south side of 180th Street at
No. 980. It was made possible by
a legacy from Charles Bathgate
Beck, a trustee of the church
and a member of one of its
oldest families, in memory of
his mother, and in 1910 the name
of the church was changed from
West Farms to Beck Memorial.

Early in 1899 a group of people
believing in the need for a new
church in the Bedford Park
section of the Bronx, gathered
for worship in the Winghart
Hall, at the north-west corner
of Webster Avenue and what is
now 201st Street. They were
known as the Union Church of
Bedford Park. Shortly
thereafter, with encouragement
from the Sabbath School
Committee of new York
Presbytery, the work came under
the leadership of the
Presbyterian Church.

On June 21, 1900 a meeting was
called by the authority of the
Presbytery of new York to form a
new church. A site for a church
building was secured at the
northwest corner of Bedford Park
Boulevard (200th Street) and
Bainbridge Avenue. This was one
of the first building
enterprises undertaken by the
recently reconstituted Church
Extension Committee. Henry
Sloane Coffin was installed as
the first pastor of this church
in 1901. The work of the church
developed so greatly, that even
though the original church had
been enlarged, additional
facilities were necessary, and
in 1930 there was completed a
parish house adjoining the
church covering the land on
which a manse had formerly
stood.

This church has had for a number
of years an Italian Mission,
which was opened in 1911 at
Villa Avenue and 204th Street.
It is known as the Church of the
Gospel. The minister in charge
is Gustavo Verdesi.

In the spring of 1872 a group of
Christian men and women meeting
in the home of Mr. William T.
Hall, 601 East 141st Street,
requested the Presbytery of
Westchester to organize them as
a church. This organization took
place May 12, 1873 in Braun's
Hall, with the name First
Presbyterian Church of North New
York. For a time meetings were
held in Judge Blythe's Court
Room. A temporary house of
worship was erected at 140th
Street and Third Avenue in 1873.
In 1876 the name of the church
was changed to Bethany
Presbyterian Church.

In 1878 Mr. James Brown donated
to the Presbytery of New York
for a church site some land at
424 East 137th Street near
Willis Avenue. Here Bethany
Church was erected and dedicated
in 1879. The church's auditorium
was not completed until thirteen
years later. On October 18, 1887
the church was transferred from
the Presbytery of Westchester to
the Presbytery of New York.